Dear Event Doctor: We have launched a number of new events in the last two years, and we miscalculated the budget on almost all of them. What should we do at the start of the budgeting process to make sure that, when the event is over, we don’t find ourselves wondering what went wrong? —Off Base

Dear Off: There are three primary reasons that event budgets end up being inaccurate: unanticipated expenses, underestimated expenses and overestimated revenues. The best prescription for avoiding unanticipated expenses is to consult the handy appendix in “The Sports Event Management & Marketing Playbook,” second edition, co-authored by the Event Doctor. With that shameless plug out of the way, I will say that the most common mistake that new event organizers make is the under-allocation of a contingency fund.

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The Event Doctor is sports-event veteran Frank Supovitz, president and chief experience officer of Fast Traffic Events & Entertainment, an event management and consulting firm. From 1992 to 2014, Supovitz served as the senior event executive for the National Football League and National Hockey League. He is also the author of “The Sports Event Management and Marketing Playbook.” Questions for The Event Doctor can be emailed to Frank Supovitz at [email protected].